The kickoff meeting of the ENGINITE Vocational Education and Training (VET) programme was co-organized by the Cyprus Interaction Lab of the Cyprus University of Technology (CIL, https://www.
The main aim of the ENGINITE project (https://www.enginite.eu/) is to design and promote a postgraduate Vocational Education and Training (VET) programme based on a Problem Based Learning (PBL) pedagogy and will combine advanced applied academic topics with hands-on aspects, in order to endorse the knowledge and skills of graduate engineers, preparing them for the industry of the 21st century.
The meeting began with an introductory speech by Dr Andri Ioannou (Assistant Professor, Project coordinator), during which she presented the philosophy and the main goals of the ENGINITE project. Next, Dr Yiannis Georgiou (Postdoctoral researcher, Project manager) delivered a presentation during which he shared more information about the structure and main timelines of the ENGINITE VET programme.
During the second half of the meeting, the ENGINITE trainers (Dr Stylianos Yiatros, Dr Ioannis Vyrides, Dr Orestis Maragkos, Mrs Elpida Georgiou, Mrs Maria Andronikou, Mr Charis Samanides, Mrs Christina Achilleos, Mr Panayiotis Andreou, Mr Andreas Andreou) introduced themselves and their courses to the young engineers, who participated at the VET programme. Likewise, the young engineers had the opportunity to introduce themselves, their background and prior studies, whilst also sharing their expectations from the ENGINITE VET programme.
The kickoff meeting was concluded with an open discussion, followed up by a reception during which the young engineers and the trainers had the opportunity to interact and get to know each other better.
The ENGINITE VET programme will have a total duration of 6 months and will be composed of two parts. During the first part (October-December 2018), the graduate engineers will have the opportunity to attend eight experiential training courses aiming at development of (a) employability enhancement & managerial (soft) skills, and (b) technical knowledge enhancement. The second part (January-March 2019) will be composed by a structured internship phase via the placement of the graduate engineers in Industrial Partners/Companies for accelerating their hands-on experiences in the industry and consolidating the technical knowledge/soft skills which will be gained during the first part of the program.
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